They are Toxic?

 I hear talk from Believers about separating themselves from other Believers. They say things like..."They are toxic!" 

They better be the personification of pure evil if one has decided to wash their hands of them, and I sincerely doubt they are if they're a true brother or sister in Christ. Saying things like "they are toxic" to justify your separation from them will not fly with God!

I hear people say things like, "I forgive them but want nothing to do with them" even if they have repented.

 What if Jesus said, "Thanks for repenting and I forgive you but I want nothing to do with you"?

According to God's Word we are to strive with everything that is within us to be at peace "with everyone," to be a peace maker and remain cordial.

According to God's Word when is it okay as a Believer to separate ourself from someone?

1) If they are a false Teacher. 

2) If they twist God's Word for profit while causing dissention. 1Tim. 6:5, 

3) If they are heretical and bring a different doctrine and continue doing this even though they are convicted. Rom. 16:17, Titus 3:10.

4) If they are disloyal to what Jesus Christ taught. 2 John 1:10.

5) If they are a lazy non- working person, who is a busy body/ meddlesome in other people's affairs. 2 Thess. 3:14.

6) If they bear the name of Christian but operate in immorality, greed, idolatry. 

7) If they are a railer, abuser, drunkard, slanderous, robber. Have nothing to do with them. 1 Cor. 5:9-11.

8) If they have a form of godliness but their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession. 

Avoid all such people turn away from them. 2 Tim. 3:5.

 And only after we have done all 3 steps in Mt. 18:15-17 with our Brother or Sister and they still refuse to listen, only then do we consider them as loss. Sadly, many jump to separating without even taking the steps in Matt. 18.

If a brother or sister does repent and we still separate ourself from them, this is wrong and it is a sin! 

Sometimes an honest self examination of ourself might be required? Questions to ask one's self, (1) Am I separating myself because I have been toxic and need to repent? (2) Could my pride be keeping me from repenting to those I have come against? (3) Is it easier to run than admit my wrong?

Repent, make things right with your Brother or Sister, or just as you have done to them will be done to you. 

So when you are offering your gift at the altar and there you remember that your brother has any grievance against you. Leave your gift at the altar and go. First make peace and be "reconciled" to your Brother, and then come back and present your gift. Mt. 5:23-24. 

Please be obedient. Time is drawing near. Make things right with Brothers and Sisters before it is too late and you find yourself at the judgment seat!

God's Little Lamb

God brought forth His Little Lamb

conceived of the Holy Ghost

From Heaven He did come

Being the Lord of Host

Leaving His Heavenly Throne

Departing from His Father's Hand

He came to this earth in the form of a man

Riches He did leave, Glory He did forsake, Becoming as a man that's

what it had to take. God's Little lamb was unblemished and without spot

Perfect in all His ways, Love is what He taught. Though hate and

rejection was given in return, man could not stop the Truth to be learned

God's Little Lamb spoke words so precious and so true, "Father forgive

them for they know not what they do." Forgiveness of sin was the message to

hear, God's Little Lamb must die so that we could draw near.

Giving us His mercy

His Love and His Grace

God's Little Lamb was slain

to take our place

Undeserving and unworthy

of such great Love

Yet uncondemning was our Savior

Sent from above

Thank you God for giving us

Your Son

Your precious Little Lamb

Is how it all begun

We now have a hope

A future secured

Eternal Life in Jesus

Who is the WORD

Tamela Greenwell

Water off a duck's back

We had a Pastor who use to say that he had a back like a duck because he had learned not to carry or allow offenses to soak into him, they would just roll right off of his back.

Jesus said in Lk. 4:18-19 That the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

The word brokenhearted in the Greek means to have crushed/shattered feelings. I think most of us have experienced this kind of pain. Having your heart crushed is a horrible pain. It's like a heaviness that lingers in the pit of your stomach. You have been pierced through and feel utterly devastated. The worst pain I think I have ever felt is the pain of betrayal. My heart has literally felt crushed by this heartache. But praise be to God that He didn't leave me with holes of betrayal in my heart. And He doesn't want to leave you with a shattered heart either. Jesus has said that He has come to heal the brokenhearted. Jesus came to mend our hearts and bring healing into our lives. He desires to make us brand new. The first step in becoming brand new is to first give our forgiveness to those who have caused us pain. We must forgive others of their offenses before the holes in our heart can be filled with Jesus' healing balm.

God has allowed me to experience some tough emotional pain in the last few years and I believe this is because He has been teaching me the lessons of giving forgiveness and Grace to others so as I can have His forgiveness and experience His healing in my life and be set free. He is teaching me to keep my eyes upon Him. These experiences have been some hard ones for me but I will have to admit that it is getting easier for me to let things just roll off of my back and not allow offenses and unforgiveness soak into me. I have been taught some valuable lessons by the Holy Spirit to not only be forgiving and gracious toward others but also to use Godly wisdom and discernment.

I truly believe that the only holes that will forever be permanent are the ones that Jesus (our Lord and Savior) took so that we wouldn't have to. Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted. May we allow His healing to take place in our heart by first offering our forgiveness to others

so that we can say,

"It's just water off a duck's back!"

I Called and Grace Came

I can't seem to get away from His Grace. Maybe it is because God has been so very gracious to me and I am so very thankful to Him for this.

When I should of been dead I Called and Grace Came and I found that He had kept me alive.

When I felt so alone and rejected I Called and Grace Came and I found that He would never leave me nor forsake me.

When I felt so ashamed and full of guilt I Called and Grace Came and I found that He had forgiven me.

When I should have been in prison I Called and Grace Came and I found that He had set me free.

When I didn't know which way to go I Called and Grace Came and I found that He was leading me.

When I was ready to give up I Called and Grace came and I found that He had strengthened me.

When it seemed that all hope was loss I Called and Grace Came and I found that He rescued me.

I am so thankful to God for His Grace. It has caused me to have an intimate relationship of communion with Him which is first and foremost in my life, but it doesn't stop there. God/Jesus has been our example of how we are to treat others. What I have learned is that I can never expect God to expand my territory as to be an honorable vessel for Him and for His Glory if I cannot be faithful in showing His Love, Mercy, Grace and Forgiveness to others. It is all about our relationship with Him as well as our relationships with others! Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart soul mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. On these two laws hangs all the laws. If we can't get these two right than we can't expect God to entrust us with anything. Love, Grace, Mercy and forgiveness are all verbs they come with action. Jesus showed His love, Grace, Mercy and forgiveness by stepping up and taking our place.

Love reaches

Grace gives

Mercy replaces

Forgiveness brings communion

Ask yourself: Am I giving Love, Grace, Mercy and Forgiveness to others as God has given to me?

Freedom to Freedom!

May we open up the prison doors of our heart and set those we hold captive free!

When we do this, we will then know true freedom for our own life as well.

Physically speaking a prisoner is held captive until he pays his debt in full. Spiritually speaking we can try and hold someone captive behind the prison doors of our heart until they pay us what we believe they owe us. And we will refuse to open those prison doors and release them until they do just that. We offer them no mercy and grace, and thus no forgiveness. We are hurting no one but ourselves when we do this. We may think that we have the power over the one that we are trying to spiritually hold captive, by continually making demands of them, and not being satisfied until they give us what we think they owe us. This will not work, because we all have been given free wills. This is why I say that we are only hurting ourselves. It is like beating our head against a brick wall. Spiritually speaking, when we try to hold someone captive by holding unforgiveness in our heart toward them, we are only holding our self captive. We are not hurting them, they are free and living life. They might regret not being able to have a relationship with us because of our unforgiveness, but other than that, we are the one in turmoil, because we are the one demanding a payment from them, which we honestly believe is a worthy and just payment, and we will not be happy until they have paid the payment in full. Sadly, when we do this, we neglect the lessons of mercy and grace, and we cause our self a lot of unnecessary grief.

Grace is unmerited favor and mercy is a disposition to be kind and forgiving despite the fact that we might think the offender in our opinion is worthy of our justice. Grace and mercy was never intended to be earned they were freely given to us by our Father in heaven when His beloved Son Jesus (our Savior and Lord) took our place on that cross. He died for us while we were yet in our sin.

Don't misunderstand me, we all must use wisdom. For example a person who abuses his wife and will not change his behavior (no efforts in going in a new direction) and has every intention to continue abusing her, should not be shown mercy and grace as to be allowed back into her presence. She should still offer him grace and mercy and forgive him, but to allow him back in her life would be a foolish thing for her to do.

What is it that stops some of us from giving mercy, grace and forgiveness to those who are trying to make a difference though? Here's some things to think about: 

It's pretty easy for us to forgive and forget about the complete stranger who flips us the bird on the highway as he is cutting us off and almost causing an accident. Usually before the day has ended we have forgotten about it and think no more of it. We never even considered the possibility of harboring that stranger and his actions in our heart for any length of time. But when it comes to a friend, a loved one or even an acquaintance we will hold onto that offense and harbor it in our heart. We will rehash it and play it over and over in our minds. We shut the door of our heart and try to spiritually lock that person and his hurts up nice and tight on the inside of us, and we hold onto him and his offenses until they give us what we want, and or what we feel we deserve. We neglect to remember that we are only human, and a lot of times the way we see things are in parts and not the whole picture. But even so, shouldn't we let the person who we care about go free just as we would the stranger. We say it is easy to let the stranger go free, because after all there are no feelings of genuine care or love for him.

This is a question that I present: "Because there are feelings of true genuine care and love for the friend, loved one or acquaintance, shouldn't that be all the more reason to let them go free whether we think they have paid their debt in full or not?" Besides that, what if there is a possibility that it's not as clear cut as you might see or think it is? That is just something to think about. Selah.....

Allow me to explain what I am saying. God is the only one that holds the whole truth, the honest truth and nothing but the truth. When God revealed this to me, I was set free from offenses and hurt. I also was able to spiritually set free those who I held captive in my heart. Within myself I offered them mercy, grace and forgiveness and they didn't even have to ask for it. Instead of living in hurt and only offering hurt to others I began living with joy and offering joy. God's power of forgiveness washed over me and His peace came into my life and I was finally set free. This was for my own sake and benefit and for my own spiritual and physical well being.

See, I had my truth and the way I seen things, and the others (whom I had locked up in the prison of my heart who had offended me) they had their truth and the way they seen things. But it was God who held the fullness of Truth, and that was what mattered to me and gave me peace. For you see, God is a just and righteous God and He is all knowing. God is merciful, gracious, loving and forgiving. And for me to know that God held the whole Truth brought great peace and freedom into my life. God revealed to me, that everyone had their own perspective of the situation and how they seen it. I was able to accept this and be content with that. Thus I was able to offer grace and forgiveness to the situation and to everyone involved.

My God forgave me my debt and I must forgive others their debt. If I don't, the Master will hand me over to the tormentors to be tormented (Mt. 18: 22-35). This could mean emotional, physical or even spiritual torment. Being forgiven and forgiving others has set me free, and whom the Son sets free is free indeed. Thank you Father God!

I can entrust my heart in the hands of my Heavenly Father because I know that His judgements are pure and righteous toward me. And you can entrust your heart with Him as well. He knows you and sees you more intimately than anyone else ever will be able too. He is your Heavenly Daddy, He created you and breathed life into you. You can rest in Him!